Save the children

I totally agree! what happened to all of us who grew up in the 60’s,70’s,80’s and some of the 90’s. we got scrapes got up brushed ourselves off and learned consequense to actions. We are sheltering our next generation so much these days that 1) parents no longer have to teach their children right from wrong, show them how to avoid danger,etc. 2) kids are growing up thinking life is easy!.good lord what would Lara Ingles Wilder say. PS I am sure there are a ton of people who will read this and not even know who I am referring to! Pathetic!

I feel sorry for the kids today. I played hockey and rode a motorcycle without a helmet for years and survived as did a majority of my boomer peers. Today’s kids will grow up to be pale faced little whiners who will shriek hysterically at a papercut if parents continue to try to protect them from that thing called ‘life’.How our ancestors would have laughed at all this bullcrap.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s to the 1970’s First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies n baby cribs with rather wide bars and covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking . As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because … WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING ! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.And we were O.K.We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride downthe hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.We didn’t have regularly schedules doctor’s appointments. Bandaids were for sissies. If you went into the hospital it was life threatening – chances were you weren’t coming out alive. The only immunization shots you got were when (if) your community paid for them. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all. No TV’s in the average home until the late 50s, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms……. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were nolawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns and big slingshots for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house. We played hockey and broomball on outdoor rinks in -10 farenheit, we played football on real grass, and we swam in pools, rivers, and lakes without supervision. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! School was brutal! Only the worst kids ended up in the principle’s office, the teachers took care of the rest of us “THEIR WAY”. These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! We even knew how to spell! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH ALL OF IT! If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!

I love this email each time I get it – it is so very very TRUE! We have to let kids be KIDS!! I am all for safety but there is a limit people!!By the way I LOVE all Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books – and now my daughter will get to enjoy them also.

I still can’t froget the day we got our own line for the phone, and we got cable the next month. I think it consisted of 12 channels. what a hoot!can you imagen a teacher letting you come in a classroom with phone back then! you’d get the strap for sure!. and helmets- I can’t remember them being used for anything.

I am one of the kids today…and my brother broke his neck when we were younger…..sledding…but wearing a helmit would not have prevented it…it would have made it worse by putting the pressure on the side that snapped…but luckyly he’s okay now.